About Sneeje

from the righthaven--schadenfreude dept

When I read Techdirt, one of the things I'm looking for are articles that help me understand the complex considerations between governmental power and individual rights. They interest me because I find that they always force me to deeply consider my own justifications and philosophies, and the debates in the comments are always spirited and thought-provoking. They also interest me because I can't help but stare in disbelief at the “reasoning” that is sometimes used. For example, take Yet Another Story Of A Guy Arrested For Filming Police. It is amazing to me that fundamental rights (such as those inherent in the First Amendment) can be so blatantly ignored. We're all human, but I feel like these rights should flow naturally into our judgment. Alas that it is not so. But never fear, there is also hope! As a counterpoint to the prior article, we also have the fact that Boston Pays $170,000 To The Guy Police Arrested For Filming Them.

So, to stay sane, that's another thing I look for: hope—that those responsible for resolving the complex interplay between government power and our rights will at least consider that limits to government power are valid and necessary. For example the article that came out Thursday, where the court is exploring whether there are limits to border searches: Court Suggests Politically Motivated Border Searches May Be Unconstitutional. If nothing else, that one had a lot of great advice on how to protect your data from the government should you foolishly decide to cross the border carrying your laptop.

Another good article in this area, while not strictly relating to limits of governmental power, Why Infringement Isn't Theft, should lead people to question the government's reasoning behind why it is willing to act on behalf of intellectual property advocates, which would be a limit in and of itself. Seeing such a prominent law professor take this stance certainly falls under the category of "hope", at least for me.

But perhaps the greatest reason I'm drawn to Techdirt is the gobs of articles that undermine widely- and blindly-held beliefs in the intellectual property arena, that challenge the "IP laws=good so more must be better" thinking and explore the unintended consequences of their existence. The first of these addresses one of the areas that most people have very little exposure to, the decision-making behind the scenes in the VC World. Anyone that is a student of economics knows that monopolies carry a lot of baggage and barriers to entry for startups, but this was the first time I thought about how those barriers were perceived. Monopolies Can Strangle Innovation shows us that the "tax" on success is a very real phenomenon.

Mike also pointed us to Jonathan Coulton to show us yet again that not all artists are looking to intellectual property protection to ensure their success. My favorite quote from Jonathan speaking about a free and open internet: "... if as a consequence of letting that do what it wants, we destroy a number of industries, including the record business, and maybe even including the rock star business, I think that humanity will be better off." Now there's a man that can see the big picture.

The next article that really struck me (and others too, judging by the volume of the comments) regarding these unintended consequences was Patents Threaten To Silence A Little Girl. I think that most people believe that patents, copyright, and trademarks are the province of the business world only and do not affect the average person in their daily life. That article is a perfect example of how that's just not true--and the more restrictive the laws around intellectual property get, it's not hard to see how much more collateral damage there will be.

You're not wrong regarding the government, but the problem is exactly what Mr. Fenderson is trying to get you to consider: that the only real option we have for a solution is to involve the government.

The government is the only party that can even be remotely argued as potentially working in the broader interest. You cannot possibly argue that the free-market will fix that or even the companies themselves. Their interests simply do not intersect with the broader market or consumers enough to encourage and nurture unselfish behaviors.

The "fighting words" concept and hate speech can be and usually are quite different. From the article you cited:

"...holding that mere offensiveness does not qualify as "fighting words".

So, the "fighting words" doctrine is more closely related to incitement than it is to hate.

But I know your point is more about whether fighting words are considered acceptable by the Supreme Court. And it is an important case, even though they have narrowed it considerably over time. John probably could have chosen a better example.

It is important though for us to understand as clearly as possible the limits on the first amendment. Thanks for the point, however late :)

Good points. I probably should have done a little more research before posting. My greater point, which you seem to agree with, is that the flaw in differentiating crimes and hate crimes is what it requires of the law and the judge/jury in terms of assessing the thoughts/motivations of the accused.

But that actually isn't the definition of "hate crime" or "hate speech". Those are speech or crime "[...] motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence."

It isn't elementary, because it is, effectively thoughtcrime from 1984.

The crime itself is provable, it either happened or not. The "hate" portion, is based on a subjective assessment of motivation. I can use words to project my motivation, but they are not necessarily an accurate representation of my mind.

Because they cannot be proof of thoughts, a hate crime must therefore be punishing SPEECH. This is a problem.

My personal opinion is that we should punish ACTIONS, not a subjective assessment of someone's motivations.

I'm curious by the following, though: "UNC doesn't get to limit speech to only what's "constructive and respectful." Its authority doesn't extend past the First Amendment."

Did Tim say this because UNC receives government funding / is a state institution? I guess I'm asking if they are sufficiently established as a government institution to be governed by the 1st amendment.

As we know, the first amendment has no power over interactions between private institutions and individuals. There may be other laws perhaps.

This posting most likely has it right, but the settlement agreement refers to form 8300, which is not the FinCEN form associated with deposits, it is the form associated with the conversion of cash into other assets or services.

In other words, this maybe isn't about deposits, but about the conversion of >=$10K cash into other assets or the conversion of assets into cash.

We live within a county, not a city. When the developers around here get approval for housing subdivisions, they often include taking responsibility for the roads within the subdivision, which is handed over to an HOA.

All of the main roads and key streets are maintained by the county, just not the subdivision roads.

I do live in a neighborhood governed by an HOA and I don't know of any neighborhood anywhere nearby that isn't.

I would love to live without that burden, but I'm not sure how our neighborhood would resolve certain issues without one. For example, the streets in our development are not state maintained. Meaning, at a minimum we need some kind of community fund/organization to plan for and pay for street snow clearing and street repair/replacement. We also have playgrounds and tennis courts that have to be maintained.

I would also add that many condos and apartments have HOA-like restrictions/costs associated with them as well.

Hmmm, I don't agree with that. I think zero-tolerance principles are misguided and wrong.

The concept that public officials can never make substantial mistakes without resigning is a) contrary to the human condition, and b) contrary to our best interests.

For a), we're all flawed humans and we make mistakes--its part of how we learn and part of how we innovate and grow. That doesn't mean damn the consequences, but it does mean that we need our leaders and administrators to feel they have some ability to use judgment and take risks. Otherwise, we're led to b).

For b), it is in our best interests that public officials feel safe to admit mistakes. If every significant mistake results in scorched earth, we'll end up with the result we often see today: no one admits mistakes even in the face of overwhelming evidence because the personal cost is too high. I contend that a situation where the public official admits their mistakes, is possibly punished, but remains in place, is the best possible outcome. There is a limit of course, and that's what makes this hard, but zero mistakes should not be the limit.

Can I break up my currency transactions into multiple, smaller amounts to avoid being reported to the government?No. This is called “structuring.” Federal law makes it a crime to break up transactions into smaller amounts for the purpose of evading the CTR reporting requirement and this may lead to a required disclosure from the financial institution to the government. Structuring transactions to prevent a CTR from being reported can result in imprisonment for not more than five years and/or a fine of up to $250,000. If structuring involves more than $100,000 in a twelve month period or is performed while violating another law of the United States, the penalty is doubled.

Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) can be any transaction, but 8300s, CMIRs, and CTRs are specifically tied to CASH.

I wasn't clear, but I meant that CTRs would not be submitted for automatic deposits. But you are correct that structuring could be associated with deposits if the bank has a reason to believe they are suspicious.

There is quite a bit of guidance around this, though, and automatic salary deposits (for example) are well-established non-suspicious behavior.

The genesis of this is the Bank Secrecy Act, for which the regulatory authority is FinCEN, not the IRS. The IRS, however, acts as the enforcement arm for FinCEN most of the time because their various divisions (in this case, Small Business/Self-Employed) are much better prepared to audit or investigate issues. FinCEN only has 300ish employees.

The BSA dictates that for each deposit of 10K+ in cash, a Currency Transaction REport (CTR) be filled. It is a form covering a statement of fact. If structuring is suspected, a Suspicious Activity Report must be filled, which is more like a tip.

If the banks don't comply with these expectations, they can be subject to significant fines and penalties.

These fillings are also expected for securities, for conversion of assets to cash or vice-versa, when bringing cash or taking it out of the country, etc. So, for example, if you pay an attorney 10K in cash, they have to file a CTR.